Money On Mobile to raise USD 50 Mn from Calpian Inc.

Money On Mobile, an Indian subsidiary of Calpian Inc., the US based mobile payment services provider, plans to raise USD 50 million from its parent company, as disclosed in a recent SEC filing. The move was first reported by Medianama.

The company has applied to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to raise funding directly from Calpian Inc. The approval is necessary as MMPL is regulated by Reserve bank of India (RBI).

Money On Mobile is a pre-paid mobile payment solution that gives consumers the ability to use their mobile phones to pay for goods and services or transfer funds using simple SMS text functionality. Till date, the service has been accessed by approximately 49 million unique telephone number customers at over 134,200 Indian retail locations.

As per the report, the company plans to use the investment in developing more payment options and improve the services further. They will receive $10 million now and the remaining $40 million in the first quarter next year, said Mr. Shashank Joshi, MMPL managing director.

As per the SEC filing, the investment agreement provides for acquiring an equity interest of approximately 74% of DPPL for $9.7 million, to be paid in tranches through January 2014 together. Till date, Calpian owns 45% of DPPL and has invested $7.1 million.

MOM has also launched its mobile apps for Android (version 2.1 and above) where one can register with his/her personal account, update bank and credit/debit card details and start making payments. The company also claims to “soon” launch apps for Windows and Symbian OS supporting mobile devices.